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CHANNING 
A  Sermon, 


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364.5 
C4 
1812 


SERMON, 


PREACHED  IN  BOSTON,  AUGUST  20,  1812, 


THE  DAY  OF 


HUMILIATION   AND   PRAYER, 

APPOINTED    BY    THE 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

IN    CONSEQUENCE    OF 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  WAR  AGAINST 
GREAT  BRITAIN. 


BY  WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHANNING, 

MINISTER    OF    THE    CHURCH    IN'FEDERAL    STREET. 


PUBLISHED  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE  JIEJ1RERS 


BOSTON  : 

PRINTED  BY  C.  STEBBINS, 

.Vo.  4,  Suffolk  Xttiltfairrr, 

rare.- . 


THE  author  is  not  insensible  to  the  many  imperfections  of 
this  discourse,  and  he  laments  that  his  engagements  have  not  permitted  him 
to  render  it  less  unworthy  the  favourable  opinion,  which  was  expressed  by 
those  who  heard  it.  He  has  consented  to  publish  it,  because  he  considers  it 
closely  connected  with  his  late  Fast  Sermon,  and  because  he  wishes  to 
express  with  greater  precision  some  important  sentiments,  which  were  sug- 
gested in  that  discourse,  but  to  which  he  was  not  able  to  give  the  time  ami 
attention  which  they  deserve. 


UNIVERSITY  oi 

SANTA 


ACTS  XXIV.  16. 

Herein  do  I  exercise  myself,  to  have  always  a 
conscience  void  of  offence  toward  God  and  toward 
man. 

A  CONSCIENCE  void  of  offence  is  an 
inestimable  blessing.  We  need  it  in  prosperity — 
for  no  condition  however  prosperous  can  give  happi- 
ness, if  our  own  hearts  reproach  us,  if  remorse  mingle 
itself  with  our  recollections  of  the  past,  and  the 
dread  of  retribution  with  our  anticipations  of  futu- 
rity. We  peculiarly  need  it  in  adverse  and  peril- 
ous times — for  it  has  power  to  impart  serenity, 
firmness,  and  hope,  when  every  outward  event  con- 
spires to  depress  and  overwhelm  us.  In  periods  of 
publick  calamity,happy  is  that  man,whose  conscience 
approves  him,  who  carries  with  him  the  supporting 
reflection,  that  he  has  been  faithful  in  the  sphere 
assigned  him  by  Providence  ;  that  he  has  laboured, 
according  to  his  power,  to  avert  the  ruin,  which 
threatens  his  country  ;  that  he  has  not  hastened 
or  aggravated  national  suffering,  by  abusing  the 
rights  of  a  citizen,  or  violating  the  duties  of  a  man 
and  a  Christian.  To  aid  you  in  securing  to  your- 
selves, this  support  and  consolation,  I  propose  to 
point  out  to  you  some  of  the  duties,  which  belong 
to  the  period,  in  which  we  live,  particularly  those 
duties,  which  grow  out  of  our  relations  to  our  ru« 


lers  and  our  country.  My  views  of  our  political 
state,  and  of  the  war,  in  ^vvhicli  \ve  are  engaged,  I 
have  lately  unfolded,  and  shall  not  now  repeat  them. 
The  question  is,  what  conduct  belongs  to  a  good 
citizen,  in  our  present  trying  condition. 

Our  condition  induces  me  to  begin,  with  urging 
on  you  the  important  duty  of  cherishing  respect  for 
civil  government,  and  a  spirit  of  obedience  to  the 
laws.     I  am  sensible,  that  many  whom  I  address 
consider  themselves  called  to  oppose  the  measures 
pf  our  present  rulers.     Let  this  opposition  breathe 
nothing  of  insubordination,  impatience  of  authority, 
or  love  of  change.     It  becomes  you  to  remember, 
that  government  is  one  of  the  noblest  and  most  val- 
uable  of  human   institutions — essential  to  the  im- 
provement of  our  nature — the  spring  of  industry  and 
enterprize — the  shield  of  property  and  life — the  re- 
fuge of  the  weak  and  oppressed.     It  is  to  the  secu- 
rity which  laws  afford,  that  wre  owe  the  successful 
application  of  human  powers — the  progress  of  the 
useful  and  elegant  arts — the  splendour  of  the  city — 
and  the  beauties  of  the  cultivated  field.     Govern- 
ment, I   know,  has  often  been  perverted  by  ambi- 
tion and  other  selfish  passions  ;    but  it  still  holds  a 
distinguished  rank   among   those    institutions,    by 
which  man  has  been  rescued  from  barbarism,  and 
conducted  through  the   ruder  stages  of  society,  to 
the  habits  of  order,  the  diversified  employments  and 
dependences,  the  refined  and  softened  manners,  the 
intellectual,    moral  and  religious  improvements    of 
the  age  in  which  we   live.     We  are  bound  to  re- 
spect government,  as   the  foundation  of  the  social 
edifice — the  great  security  for  social  happiness  ;  and 
we  should  carefully  cherish  that  habit  of  obedience 


to  the  laws,  without  which  the  ends  of  government 
cannot  be  accomplished.  All  wanton  opposition 
to  the  constituted  authorities  ;  all  censures  of  ru- 
lers, originating  in  a  factious,  aspiring,  or  envious 
spirit ;  all  unwillingness  to  submit  to  laws,  which 
are  directed  to  the  welfare  of  the  community,  should 
be  rebuked  and  repressed  by  the  frown  of  publick 
indignation. 

It  is  impossible,  that  all  the  regulations  of  the 
wisest  government  should  equally  benefit  every  in- 
dividual of  the  society ;  and  sometimes  the  general 
good  will  demand  arrangements,  which  will  inter- 
fere with  the  interests  of  particular  members,  or 
classes  of  the  nation.  In  such  circumstances,  the 
individual  is  bound  to  regard  the  inconveniences 
under  which  he  suffers,  as  inseparable  from  a  social, 
connected  state ;  as  the  result  of  the  condition,  which 
God  has  appointed  ;  and  not  as  the  fault  of  his  ru- 
lers ;  and  he  should  cheerfully  submit,  recollecting 
how  much  more  he  receives  from  the  community, 
than  lie  is  called  to  resign  to  it.  Disaffection  to- 

O 

wards  a  government,  which  is  administered  with  a 
view  to  the  general  welfare,  is  a  great  crime  ;  and 
such  opposition,  even  to  a  bad  government,  as 
infuses  into  subjects  a  restless  temper,  an  un- 
willingness to  yield  to  wholesome  and  neces- 
sary restraint,  deserves  no  better  name.  In  pro- 
portion as  a  people  want  a  conscientious  regard  to 
the  laws,  and  are  prepared  to  evade  them  by  fraud, 
or  to  arrest  their  operation  by  violence ;  in  that 
proportion  they  need  and  deserve  an  arbitrary  gov- 
ernment, strong  enough  to  crush  at  a  blow  every 
symptom  of  opposition. 

These  general  remarks  on  the  duty  of  submission 
are  by  no  means  designed  to  leach,  that  rulers  are 


0 

never  to  be  opposed.  Because  1  wish  to  guard  you 
against  that  turbulent  and  discontented  spirit,  which 
precipitates  free  communities  into  anarchy,  and  thus 
prepares  them  for  chains,  you  will  not  consider  me. 
as  asserting,  that  all  opposition  to  government,  what- 
ever be  the  occasion,  or  whatever  the  form,  is  to  be 
branded  as  a  crime.  Subjects  have  rights  as  well 
as  duties.  Government  is  instituted  for  one  and  a 
single  end, — the  benefit  of  the  governed  ;  the  protec- 
tion, peace,  and  welfare  of  society ;  and  when  it 
is  perverted  to  other  objects,  to  purposes  of  avarice, 
ambition,  or  party  spirit,  we  are  authorized  and  even 
bound  to  make  such  opposition,  as  is  suited  to  restore 
it  to  its  proper  end,  to  render  it  as  pure  as  the  im- 
perfection of  our  nature  and  state  will  admit. 

The  scriptures  have  sometimes  been  thought  to 
enjoin  an  unqualified,  unlimited  subjection  to  the 
••  higher  powers  ;"  but  if  we  attend,  we  shall  see 
that  the  injunction  is  founded  on  the  principle,  that 
these  powers  are  "  ministers  of  GOD  for  good,'7  are 
•i  terror  to  evil  doers,  and  an  encouragement  to  those 
that  do  well.  When  a  government  wants  this  char- 
acter, when  it  becomes  an  engine  of  oppression,  the 
scriptures  enjoin  subjection  no  longer.  Expedience 
may  make  it  our  duty  to  obey,  but  the  government 
has  lost  its  rights  ;  it  can  no  longer  urge  its  claims 
as  an  ordinance  of  GOD. 

There  have,  indeed,  been  times,  when  sovereigns 
have  demanded  subjection  as  an  unalienable  right, 
and  when  the  superstition  of  subjects  has  surround- 
ed them  with  a  mysterious  sanctity,  with  a  majesty 
approaching  *he  divine.  But  these  days  have  past. 
Under  the  robe  of  office,  we,  my  hearers,  have  learn- 
ed to  see  a  man,  like  ourselves  :  invested  with  dig- 
Miry  for  tbe  benefit  of  his  fellows  :  most  honourable, 


most  worthy  our  reverence,  when,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
universal  sovereign,  he  employs  power  to  execute 
justice  and  dispense  blessings  ;  and  most  degraded 
arid  worthless  amidst  all  his  pomp,  when  he  for- 
gets that  his  power  is  a  trust,  and  prostitutes  it  to 
selfish  ends.  There  is  no  such  sacredness  in  ru- 
lers, as  forbids  scrutiny  into  their  motives,  or  con- 
demnation of  their  conduct.  If  indeed  elevation  of 
rank  gave  elevation  to  the  character,  implicit  confi- 
dence in  government  would  be  our  duty.  But  ru- 
lers, when  they  leave  the  common  walks  of  life, 
leave  none  of  their  imperfections  behind  them. 
Power  has '  even  a  tendency  to  corrupt — to  feed  an 
irregular  ambition — to  harden  the  heart  against  the 
claims  and  sufferings  of  mankind.  Rulers  have 
generally  seemed  to  be  raised  too  high  for  sympa- 
thy, and  have  often  sported  with  human  rights  and 
happiness,  for  the  purpose  of  extending,  or  display- 
ing their  power.  Rulers  are  not  to  be  viewed 
with  a  malignant  jealousy  ;  but  they  ought  to  be  in- 
spected with  a  watchful,  undazzled  eye.  Their 
virtues  and  services  are  to  be  rewarded  with  gener- 
ous praise  ;  and  their  crimes,  and  arts,  and  usurpa- 
tions should  be  exposed  with  a  fearless  sincerity,  to 
the  indignation  of  an  injured  people.  We  are  not 
to  be  factious,  and  neither  are  we  to  be  servile. 
With  a  sincere  disposition  to  obey,  should  be  unit- 
ed a  firm  purpose  not  to  be  oppressed. 

So  far  is  an  existing  government  from  being  cloth- 
ed with  an  inviolable  sanctity,  that  subjects,  in  par- 
ticular circumstances,  acquire  the  right,  not  only  of 
remonstrating,  but  of  employing  force  for  its  des- 
truction. This  right  accrues  to  subjects,  when  a 
government  wantonly  disregards  ih«  ends  of  socinl 


8 

union  ;  when  it  threatens  the  subversion  of  national 
liberty  and  happiness ;  when  it  makes  encroachments 
which,  if  endured,  will  lead  to  the  prostration  of  all 
the  rights  of  a  people  :  and  when  no  relief  but  force 
remains  to  the  suffering  community.  This  howev- 
er is  a  right  which  cannot  be  exercised  with  too 
much  deliberation.  Subjects  should  very  slowly 
yield  to  the  conviction,  that  rulers  have  that  settled 
hostility  to  their  interests,  which  authorizes  violence. 
They  must  not  indulge  a  spirit  of  complaint,  and 
suffer  their  passions  to  pronounce  on  their  wrongs. 
They  must  remember,  that  the  best  government  will 
partake  the  imperfection  of  all  human  institutions, 
and  that  if  the  ends  of  the  social  compact  are  in  any 
tolerable  degree  accomplished,  they  will  be  mad  in- 
deed to  hazard  the  blessings  they  possess,  for  the 
possibility  of  greater  good.  They  should  weigh, 
not  only  the  evils  they  suffer,  but  the  evils  of  resist- 
ance ;  the  tumultuous  state  in  which  an  appeal  to 
force  may  leave  them  ;  the  danger  of  dissolving  in- 
stead of  improving  society.  They  should  anxiously 
inquire,  if  no  methods,  more  peaceful,  will  bring 
them  relief. 

It  becomes  us  to  rejoice,  my  friends,  that  AVC  live 
under  a  constitution,  one  great  design  of  which  is — 
to  prevent  the  necessity  of  appealing  to  force — to 
give  the  people  an  opportunity  of  removing,  with- 
out violence,  those  rulers  from  whom  they  suffer,  or 
apprehend  an  invasion  of  rights.  This  is  one  of  the 
principal  advantages  of  a  republick  over  an  absolute 
government.  In  a  despotism,  there  is  no  remedy 
for  oppression  but  force.  The  subject  cannot  influ- 
ence publiek  affairs,  but  by  convulsing  the  state, 
AVith  us.  rulers  may  be  changed,  without  he  hor- 


rors  of  a  revolution.  A  republican  government  se- 
cures to  its  subjects  this  immense  privilege,  by  con- 
firming to  them  two  most  important  rights ;  the 
risrbt  of  suffrage,  and  the  riajht  of  discussing  with 

O  c_*      '  <iJ  ej 

freedom  the  conduct  of  rulers.  The  value  of  these 
rights  in  affording  a  peaceful  method  of  redressing 
publick  grievances  cannot  be  expressed,  and  the  duty 
of  maintaining  them,  of  never  surrendering  them, 
cannot  be  too  strongly  urged  :  resign  either  of  these, 
and  no  way  of  escape  from  oppression  will  be  left 
you,  but  civil  commotion. 

From  the  important  place  which  these  rights 
hold  in  a  republican  government,  you  should  con- 
sider yourselves  bound  to  support  every  cit- 
izen in  the  lawful  exercise  of  them,  especially  when 
an  attempt  is  made  to  wrest  them  from  any  by  vio- 
lent means.  At  the  present  time,  it  is  particularly 
your  duty  to  guard,  with  jealousy,  the  right  of  ex- 
pressing with  freedom  your  honest  convictions  res- 
pecting the  measures  of  your  rulers.  Without  this, 
the  right  of  election  is  not  worth  possessing.  If 
publick  abuses  may  not  be  exposed,  their  authors  will 
never  be  driven  from  power.  Freedom  of  opinion, 
of  speech,  and  of  the  press,  is  our  most  valuable 
privilege— the  very  scul  of  republican  institutions — 
the  safeguard  of  all  other  rights.  We  may  learn 
its  value  if  we  reflect,  that  there  is  nothing  which 
tyrants  so  much  dread.  They  anxiously  fetter  the 
press  ;  they  scatter  spies  through  society,  that  the 
murmurs,  anguish,  and  indignation  of  their  oppress- 
ed subjects  may  be  smothered  in  their  own  breasts  ; 
that  no  generous  sentiment  may  be  nourished  by 
sympathy  and  mutual  confidence.  Nothing  awak- 
ens and  improves  men  so  much  as  free  cemnumica* 


10 

tion  of  thoughts  and  feelings.  Nothing  can  give  to 
publick  sentiment  that  correctness,  which  is  essential 
to  the  prosperity  of  a  commonwealth,  but  the  free 
circulation  of  truth,  from  the  lips  and  pens  of  the 
wise  and  good.  If  such  men  abandon  the  right  of 
free  discussion — if,  awed  by  threats,  they  suppress 
their  convictions — if  rulers  succeed  in  silencing  ev- 
ery voice,  but  that  which  approves  them — if  nothing 
reaches  the  people,  but  what  will  lend  support  to 
men  in  power — farewell  to  liberty.  The  form  of  a 
free  government  may  remain,  but  the  life,  the  soul, 
the  substance  is  fled. 

If  these  remarks  be  just,  nothing  ought  to  excite 
greater  indignation  and  alarm,  than  the  attempts, 
which  have  lately  been  made  to  destroy  the  freedom 
of  the  press.  We  have  lived  to  hear  the  strange 
doctrine,  that  to  expose  the  measures  of  rulers  is 
treason  ;  and  we  have  lived  to  see  this  doctrine  car- 
ried into  practice.  We  have  seen  a  savage  popu- 
lace excited  and  let  loose  on  men,  whose  crime  con- 
sisted in  bearing  testimony  against  the  present  war ; 
and  let  loose,  not  merely  to  waste  their  property* 
but  to  shed  their  blood,  to  tear  them  from  the  ref- 
uge which  the  magistrate  had  afforded,  to  slaughter 
them  with  every  circumstance  of  cruelty  and  igno- 
miny. I  do  not  intend  to  describe  that  night  of  hor- 
rors, to  show  to  you  citizens,  who  had  fought  the 
battles  of  their  country,  beaten  to  the  earth,  trod- 
den under  foot,  mangled,  dishonoured  ! — What 
ought  to  alarm  us  even  more  than  this  dreadful 
scene  is,  the  disposition  which  has  been  discovered 
to  extenuate  these  atrocities,  to  speak  of  this  bloody 
outrage  as  a  mode  of  punishment,  irregular  indeed, 
yet  mitigated  by  the  guilt  of  those  who  presumed  to 


11 

arraign  their  rulers.  In  this  and  in  other  language, 
there  have  been  symptoms  of  a  purpose,  to  terrify 
into  silence  those,  who  disapprove  the  calamitous 
war,  under  which  we  suffer ;  to  deprive  us  of  the  only 
method,  which  is  left,  of  obtaining  a  wiser  and  bet- 
ter government.  The  cry  has  been,  that  war  is  de- 
clared, and  all  opposition  should  therefore  be  hush- 
ed. A  sentiment  more  unworthy  of  a  free  country 
can  hardly  be  propagated.  If  this  doctrine  be  ad- 
mitted, rulers  have  only  to  declare  war  and,  they 
are  screened  at  once  from  scrutiny.  At  the  very 
time  when  they  have  armies  at  command,  when  their 
patronage  is  most  extended,  and  their  power  most 
formidable,  not  a  word  of  warning,  of  censure, 
of  alarm  must  be  heard.  The  press,  which  is  to 
expose  inferior  abuses,  must  not  utter  one  rebuke, 
one  indignant  complaint,  although  our  best  inter- 
ests, and  most  valuable  rights  are  put  to  hazard, 
by  an  unnecessary  war.  Admit  this  doctrine,  let 
rulers  once  know  that  by  placing  the  country  in  a 
state  of  war,  they  place  themselves  beyond  the  on- 
ly power  they  dread,  the  power  of  free  discussion, 
and  we  may  expect  war  without  end.  Our  peace 
and  all  our  interests  require,  that  a  different  senti- 
ment prevail.  We  should  make  our  present  and 
all  future  rulers  feel,  that  there  is  no  measure,  for 
which  they  must  render  so  solemn  an  acount  to 
their  constituents,  as  for  a  declaration  of  war ;  that 
no  measure  will  be  so  freely,  so  fully  discussed ;  and 
that  no  administration  can  succeed,  in  persuading 
this  people  to  exhaust  their  treasure  and  blood  in 
supporting  war,  unless  it  be  palpably  necessary  and 
just.  In  war  then,  as  in  peace,  assert  the  freedom 
of  speech  and  of  the  press.  Cling  to  this,  as  the 
bulwark  of  all  your  rights  and  privileges. 


But,  my  friends,  I  should  not  be  faithful,  were  I 
only  to  call  you  to  hold  fast  this  freedom.  I 
would  still  more  earnestly  exhort  you  not  to  abuse 
it.  Its  abuse  may  be  as  fatal  to  our  country  as  its 
relinquishment.  Every  blessing  may,  by  perver- 
sion, be  changed  into  a  curse,  and  this  is  peculiarly 
true  of  the  press.  If  undirected,  unrestrained  by 
principle,  the  press,  instead  of  enlightening,  de- 
praves the  publick  mind  ;  and,  by  its  licentiousness, 
forges  chains  for  itself  and  for  the  community.  The 
right  of  free  discussion  is  not  the  right  of  saying 
what  we  please,  what  our  passions  prompt  ;  not  the 
right  of  diffusing  falsehood  and  evil  principles. — 
Nothing  is  to  be  spoken  or  written  but  the  truth.,  and 
truth  is  so  to  be  expressed,  that  the  bad  passions  of 
the  community  shall  not  be  called  forth,  or  at  least 
shall  not  be  unnecessarily  excited.  From  what 
wretchedness  would  our  country  be  saved,  were 
these  simple  rules  observed.  On  political  subjects, 
there  is  less  regard  to  truth,  more  of  false  colouring 
and  exaggeration,  than  on  any  other.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  press  is  very  much  diminished  by  its 
gross  and  frequent  misrepresentations.  Each  par- 
ty listens  with  distrust  to  the  statements  of  the  oth- 
er and  the  consequence  is,  that  the  progress  of  truth 
is  slow,  and  sometimes  wholly  obstructed.  Whilst 
we  encourage  the  free  expression  of  opinion,  let 
us  unite  in  fixing  the  brand  of  infamy  on  falsehood 
and  slander,  wherever  they  originate  ;  whatever  be 
the  cause  they  are  designed  to  maintain.  ' 

But  it  is  not  enough  that  truth  be  told.  It  should 
be  told  for  a  good  end  ;  not  to  irritate  but  to  con- 
vince :  not  to  inflame  the  bad  passions,  but  to 
sway  the  judgment  and  to  awaken  sentiments  of 


13 

patriotism.  In  this  country,  political  discussion  has 
decidedly  an  unhappy  influence  on  the  temper. 
Many  talk  and  write  for  the  simple  purpose  of 
wounding  their  opponents.  There  are,  compara- 
tively, few  attempts  to  mollify.  Those  who  have 
embraced  error  are  confirmed,  hardened  in  their 
principles,  by  the  reproachful  epithets,  which  are 
heaped  upon  them  by  their  adversaries.  I  do  not 
mean  by  this,  that  political  discussion  is  to  be  con- 
ducted with  a  frigid  tameness,  that  no  sensibility  is 
to  be  expressed,  no  indignation  to  be  poured  forth 
on  wicked  men  and  wicked  deeds.  But  this  I  mean, 
that  we  should  deliberately  inquire,  whether  indig- 
nation be  deserved,  before  we  express  it  ;  and  the 
object  of  expressing  it  should  ever  be,  not  to  infuse 
ill-will,  rancour,  and  fury  into  the  minds  of  men, 
but  to  excite  an  enlightened  and  conscientious  op- 
position to  injurious  measures.  He  who  addresses 
his  fellowcitizens  on  political  topicks,  should  ever 
propose  to  impart  correct  principles,  and  to  awaken 
pure  and  honourable  feelings  ;  and  the  press,  when 
employed  for  other  ends,  is  grossly  perverted. 

Every  good  man  must  mourn,  that  so  much  is  con- 
tinually spoken,  written  and  published  among  us, 
for  no  other  apparent  end,  than  to  gratify  the  malev- 
olence of  one  party,  by  wounding  the  feelings  of  the 
opposite.  The  consequence  is,  that  an  alarming  de- 
gree of  irritation  exists  in  our  country.  Fellowcit- 
izens burn  with  mutual  hatred,  and  some  are  evi- 
dently ripe  for  outrage  and  violence.  In  this  fever- 
ish state  of  the  publick  mind,  we  are  not  to  relinquish 
free  discussion,  but  every  man  should  feel  the  duty 
of  speaking  and  writing  with  deliberation.  It  is 
the  time  to  be  firm  without  passion.  No  menace 


should  be  employed  to  provoke  opponents — no  de- 
fiance hurled1 — no  language  used  which  will,  in  any 
measure.,  justify  the  ferocious  in  appealing  to  force. 

By  this  language  I  do  not  mean  to  suggest,  that  I 
anticipate  scenes  of  violence  and  murder,  such  as 
have  lately  been  exhibited  in  other  parts  of  our  land, 
as  have  made  our  hearts  thrill  with  grief,  indignation, 
and  horror.  I  have  too  much  confidence  in  the 
good  principles  and  habits  of  this  section  of  our 
country.  I  trust,  that  none  of  us  shall  live,  to  hear 
the  yell  of  a  murderous  mob  ringing  through  our 
city,  to  see  our  streets  flowing  with  the  blood  of 
citizens,  butchered  by  the  hand  of  citizens.  But, 
my  friends,  there  is  a  violence  in  the  passions  of 
this  community,  which  ought  to  give  us  some  alarm  ; 
which  ought  to  set  us  all  on  our  guard,  lest,  by  our 
rashness,  and  intemperate  language,  we  gradually 
lead  on  to  a  tremendous  convulsion. 

The  sum  of  my  remarks  is  this.  It  is  your  duty 
to  hold  fast  and  to  assert  with  firmness  those  truths 
and  principles  on  which  the  welfare  of  your  country 
seems  to  depend  ;  but  do  this  with  calmness,  with 
a  love  of  peace,  without  ill  will  and  revenge.  Im- 
prove every  opportunity  of  allaying  animosities. 
Strive  to  make  converts  of  those  whom  you  think 
in  error  :  do  not  address  them,  as  if  you  wished  to 
make  them  bitter  enemies  to  yourselves  and  your 
cause.  Discourage  in  decided  and  open  language, 
that  rancour,  malignity,  and  unfeeling  abuse,  which 
so  often  find  their  way  into  our  publiek  prints,  and 
which  only  tend  to  increase  the  already  alarming 
irritation  of  our  country.  Remember,  that  in  propor- 
tion as  a  people  become  enslaved  to  their  passions, 
they  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  aspiring  and  unprin- 


p  j  --., 


15 

cipled  ;  and  that  a  corrupt  government,  which  has 
an  interest  in  deceiving  the  people,  can  desire  noth- 
ing more  favourable  to  their  purposes,  than  a  fren- 
zied state  of  the  publick  mind. 

My  friends,  in  this  day  of  discord,  let  us  cherish 
and  breathe  around  us  the  benevolent  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity. Let  us  reserve  to  ourselves  this  consola- 
tion, that  we  have  added  no  fuel  to  the  flames,  no 
violence  to  the  storms,  which  threaten  to  desolate  our 
country.  To  Christian  benevolence,  let  us  add  the 
higher  duties  of  piety,  a  cheerful  obedience  and 
resignation  to  the  will  of  our  Creator.  Thus  liv- 
ing we  shall  not  live  in  vain.  In  the  most  calami- 
tous times,  we  shall  bless  those  who  are  placed  with- 
in our  influence  5  we  shall  carry  within  us  con- 
sciences void  of  offence ;  and  we  shall  be  able  to  look 
up  to  God,  as  our  approving  and  protecting  father, 
who,  after  appointing  us  the  trials  which  we  need, 
will  grant  us  everlasting  rest  in  heaven. 


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